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Snake Street is an area I should avoid. Yet that night I was drawn there as surely as if I had an appointment.Β
The Snake House is shabby on the outside to hide the wealth within. Everyone knows of the wealth, but facades, like the parkβs wall, must be maintained. A lantern hung from the porch eaves. A sign, written in Utte, read βKinship of the Serpentβ. I stared at that sign, at that porch, at the door with its twisted handle, and wondered what the people inside would do if I entered. Would they remember me? Greet me as Kin? Or drive me out and curse me for faking my death?Β Worse, would they expect me to redon the life Iβve shed? Staring at that sign, I pissed in the street like the Mearan savage Iβve become.
As I started to leave, I saw a woman sitting in the gutter. Her lamp attracted me. A memsaβs lamp, three tiny flames to signify the Holy Trinity of Faith, Purity, and Knowledge.Β The woman wasnβt a memsa. Her young face was bruised and a gash on her throat had bloodied her clothing. Had she not been calmly assessing me, I would have believed the wound to be mortal. I offered her a copper.Β
She refused, βI take naught for naught,β and began to remove trinkets from a cloth bag, displaying them for sale.
Her Utte accent had been enough to earn my coin. But to assuage her pride I commented on each of her worthless treasures, fighting the urge to speak Utte. (I spoke Universal with the accent of an upper class Mearan though I wondered if she had seen me wetting the cobblestones like a shameless commoner.) After she had arranged her wares, she looked up at me. βWhat do you desire, O Noble Born?β
I laughed, certain now that she had seen my act in front of the Snake House and, letting my accent match the coarseness of my dress, I again offered the copper.
Β βNay, Noble One. You must choose.β She lifted a strand of red beads. βThese to adorn your ladyβs bosom?β
Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β I shook my head. I wanted her lamp. But to steal the light from this woman ... I couldnβt ask for it. She reached into her bag once more and withdrew a book, leather-bound, the pages gilded on the edges. βBe this worthy of desire, Noble Born?β
Β I stood stunned a moment, then touched the crescent stamped into the leather and asked if sheβd stolen the book. She denied it. Iβve had the Training; she spoke truth. Yet how could she have come by a book bearing the Royal Seal of the Haesyl Line? I opened it. The pages were blank.
βTake it,β she urged. βRecord your deeds for study. Lo, the steps of your life mark the journey of your soul.β
Β I told her I couldnβt afford the book, but she smiled as if poverty were a blessing and said, βThe price be one copper. Tis a wee price for salvation, Noble One.β
Β So I bought this journal. I hide it under my mattress. When I lie awake at night, I feel the journal beneath my back and think of the woman who sold it to me. Damn her. She plagues my soul. I promised to return the next night, but I didnβt. I promised to record my deeds. But I canβt. The price is too high.
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K. Ritz (Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master)